


After The Cluster

by AmethystTheGem



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, More characters introduced later, Stevonnie is a thing of the past, sorry not sorry lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5798317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmethystTheGem/pseuds/AmethystTheGem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is ny first fic sooo<br/>But anyways think you'll like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Homeworld Gem like Them.

They sat on the couch in Steven's room. It was the day after The Cluster was stopped and Peridot was absolutely bored out of her mind. The other gems were playing Citchen Calamity. "But Steven, can I move my golden spatula to space 5 if I have the beholder card?" Pearl said, visibly confused  
"No Pearl only if you have the mine card." he replied  
He the continued "Buuuuutttt-"  
Steven was interrupted by a very rude lime gem "Enough of this useless Earth squabble! Shouldn't we be worried about Yellow Diamond coming to Earth and killing us all?!!?" Peridot squawked  
"You mean killing you?" Garnet said  
"Heh???" Perdiot replied  
"Well you kinda did insult her. I mean, she doesn't even know we're here." Amethyst replied  
"Hey!" Steven said "Don't worry Peri, we won't let anyone hurt you!" Steven replied, grinning.  
"Ehh" Peridot lightly blushed before getting, well, Peridotty(?) again. "Well can we at least do something more interesting?" she said  
"What're you talking about?" Steven replied " Citchen Calamity is the funnest most exciting-!"  
Garnet suddenly stood up "There's a mission we have to attend to Gems. I'll need you two." she pointed to Amethyst and Pearl."  
"What about me?" said Peridot "Please I need to leave this forsaken temple."  
Garnet sighed and turned around.She rubbed her forehead. She'd been doing this a lot lately. "Okay..."  
"Alright!" Amethyst yelped "First mission with Peri!"  
Peridot smiled widely and cheered "FINALLY! Out of this fortress of despair!"  
"Garnet! Garnet! Could I come too?" Steven begged  
"No its too dangerous for you."  
"Aww come on Garnet! It'll be-" Steven continued smiling  
"NO! JUST STAY HERE AND DON'T BE SUCH A NUISANCE ABOUT IT!"  
Pearl gasped. Steven felt his heart slow to a crawl and a lump form in his throat and he managed to choke out a simple "Ga-Garnet-?"  
Garnet turned around and screamed right in his face "SHUT UP ALREADY!"  
Steven felt hot tears form in his eyes. Garnet's heavy breathing stopped and she seemed to realize what she had just done. She reached out for Steven and said in a quavery voice, in which you could hear Ruby and Sapphire "Ste- Steven I-we-I-"   
Steven flinched and fall back from her touch. Pearl was still in awe. Amethyst stood at the warp with Peridot, both in awestruck horror. Garnet grabbed her head again and writhed in pain and said again, with a ucharacteristic smile "Meant every word."  
Steven felt tears run down his face as he ran out of the temple. He heard a yelp of pain behind him and the sound of two bodies falling to the floor and an estrangled cry of two voices "STEVEN!"  
He didn't respond to the cry. He was too upset. That was until he saw a green hand pointed right at the house. A pod shot out and a gem unfolded from it. She had a black dress and green hair that flew out behind her like a cape. She was skinny and looked like she could barely handle a shove. Just like Lapis. He shook the thought out of his head as he saw the gem fly towards the door of the house and block it as it cracked open. He heard Sapphire cry out "STEVEN!"  
His heart broke as he thought of what Garnet said. In a split second he heard Sapphire cry out again, barley keeping the sobbing out of her voice "STEVEN!! RU-!"   
Before a sticky substance hit him straight in the head while heard an estranged Sapphire busting through the door and screaming "NO!"   
At the top of her lungs, before he blacked out.

Two years later  
Age:16  
Steven awoke with a start as Chrysoprase beat on his living quarters door loudly "STEVEN! GET UP BEFORE YOU'RE LATE!"  
Steven groggily checked his reflection. Same long straight pink hair that mirrored his dad's went he first met mom. His facs the same as his too. In fact his body was a near replica to his fathers, except his hair color. He stopped hurting about looking in the mirror and seeing his father ages ago. "HURRY UP STEVEN!"  
He wore a plain gray t-shirt and dark blue jeans. The only sign he was still human. "STEVEN HURRY UP DON'T YOU WANT TO GET-"   
Steven rushed out the apartment and covered her mouth "Be quiet!" he whispered angrily. Today was his last chance to escape to Earth, and see everyone again and learn what happened with Garnet. She wouldn't really just start hating him like that? Would she? The thought made his heart ache so he brushed the thought from his mind. But what would happen if Garnet really did hate him? Steven swallowed. Chrysoprase bit down on his hand, hard. "OUCH!"   
Chrysoprase laughed hardly and snorted. It reminded him of Amethyst. He bit his lip and then coolly said "Shouldn't we be going?"   
Chrysoprase laughed "Whatever ya big baby." She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. He bit his lip harder. She walked down the hallway to her living quarter's and suddenly became serious " We'll have to hurry, my pearl will be back soon." She ran swiftly to her door, her hair fluttering behind her just like it did two years ago. She stepped inside and walked to her rest quarter's. Living Room. Its called a living room Steven thought to himself. A bright warp pad glittered in it. "Ok let me get my stuff then we can leave." Chrysoprase said cheerfully and walked into her sleeping qua-. Bedroom. And shut the door behind her. He quickly hopped onto the warp pad and warped to the one in his old home. Hopfully nothing changed too much.

 

Everything Stays

As Steven warped into his home, everything was the same. The lights on, and everything in its place. But no gems. He would just wait till they came back. He had an odd sense of terror in his chest. His heart beat heavily in his chest. As soon as he stepped off the warp pad, his hair turned completely black, except for a pink streak. Luckily it was still straight, it was WAY easier to maintain and curlier looking. Hopefully everyone would recognize him. He walked outside. He brothe in the clean natural air, unlike the mechanical kind made on homeworld. The sun warmed his skin. Steven laughed, it felt great to be back home. He ran down the wooden step, laughing at their familiar creak. The warm sand welcomed his bare feet. He stopped to let his toes curl around the sand. Steven smiled brightly and took off running towards the boardwalk. Everything was the same. He ran past the big donut and briefly looked inside the window. All he saw was a person with bright red hair mopping with headphones in and a blonde sitting behind the counter, reading a book. Lars and Sadie were fine. Steven smiled brightly as he ran down the boardwalk only looking straight ahead, but his heart beating insanely as he passed many of his old friends shops. The sun was just rising in Beach City, illuminating Steven's face. His bare feet beat across the boardwalk until he turned on West Street. He saw his dads van parked outside of it. He ran up to the van and suddenly stopped. A familiar tune playing inside he listened in:  
(To the tune of We Are the Crystal Gems)  
Steven, he was a crystal gem,  
He always saved the day,   
And if you thought he couldn't,  
He'd always find a way,  
Thats why the people of this world,  
Believed in…  
Steven.

When the song stopped he realized it was his dad singing it. He felt tears bloom in his eyes. He softly knocked on the door. There was was some scrambing and his dad called out "Be there in a sec!"  
Steven's heart pumped out of control. As the van door opened Steven felt his heart nearly stop from excitement. His dad was still trying to pick up a small mess when he said "How can I help-"  
Greg looked up and stared. Was this-? "Hi dad." Steven said ( He sounds like Zach Callison in real life)  
Greg felt a lump form in his throat and tears flood his vision "Ste-Steven??"  
Steven smiled lightly "Yeah Dad… its me."  
Greg lunged forward and hug attacked Steven. It was easier, now that they were the same height. They stood like that until the sun was up.

Steven had to also greet the gems again, so eventually he had to say goodbye to his dad. After he promised to visit again later his dad finally let him go. He strolled down the boardwalk in hopes of running into someone. When he was halfway back home, he saw two figures walking towards him. Lars and Sadie. He tries to casually walk by but it was so hard. As they passed Steven, Sadie happened to look up at Steven. She froze and stared at Steven. Lars whined "Come on, Sadie! We're gonna be late to the part-"   
Lars followed Sadie's gaze to a teen with long black hair. He seemed oddly familiar. Suddenly the teen turned around looking directly at them. It-it was Steven. An older Steven. Sadie rushed forward and hugged Steven tightly. Crying into his shirt, she started mumbling out unintelligable questions. He crouched down and hugged her. Lars was openly crying, but trying and failing at putting on an I-don't-care routine. He eventually gave up and hugged Steven. He didn't care how he looked right now. No matter how mean he was to Steven, he still cared about him. After a full minute of hugging Sadie pulled away, her eyes red. "Steven, where did you go?! You had everyone in town thinking you were dead…"  
After Steven explained what happened that day two years ago, an hour had gone by and now Sadie and Lars had to go back to work. They reluctantly left after Steven promised to visit them later. He ran back to the temple, but as soon as he turned the corner of the cliff that once passed would reveal the temple, he saw Amethyst and Pearl outside fighting some weird kind of lion and shark hybrid. They were losing slowly. They didn't seem to have any spunk to their moves anymore. They looked like they were barely trying. As the monster lunged at Pearl she didn't even try to block any faster. Steven had had enough. He felt a surge of energy flow through him. He ran towards Pearl, who seemed to have put away her weapon. Steven ran faster. The monster plunged faster. It aimed for her gem. He heard Amethyst scream out as the monster now lunged on both Pearl and Steven, "Is that-!?"  
Pearl screamed from behind him "STEVEN?!?!?!"  
He summoned a shield nearly 20 feet wide 40 feet long, blocking all of them from the monster, who's gem shattered on contact with the shield. A second after the monster poofed, so did Steven's shield. Steven fell on all fours, coughing and gasping for air. Pearl and Amethyst ran to Steven. All they could do for a few seconds was mutter his name. After a rather harsh cough Pearl helped Steven up. All she could do was try not to openly cry. She felt tears run down her face. After a minute Steven spoke up "Hey Pearl, don't cry. I'm here now afterall."   
That only caused Pearl to cry even more and pull him into a tight hug. It seemed that all that mattered in the universe was that her Steven was back.


	2. Everything Stays

A dark gray gem sat on the beach. But no one payed any attention to it. Steven was back after vanishing for two years. Usually that wasn't very long for a gem, but even the Gems thought this to be the longest years of their lives. It felt to them how 100 years feel to humans.

January 18 started off as a normal day for the gems. Well as normal as it could be without Steven. Garnet hardly ever left her room, the only reason now for missions. Pearl cleaned the house everyday. For the first year of Steven being gone, Pearl all of her time in her room. Though, after Steven's birthday passed she decided to get Steven's home ready for when he returned. Pearl didn't want to think he would never come back. Amethyst vanished after Steven left and only came back two weeks before the 18. She was uncharacteristically quiet. Neither Pearl or Garnet knew where she'd gone. Of course, Pearl immediatly told her off for being gone so long. She was really mad at her for leaving her with Garnet for so long. If Garnet seemed indifferent before, now she was downright cold. She hardly talked to the Gems anymore and when she did, it seemed she was sarcastic. On January 18, Garnet seemed downright cheerful. She hurriedly walked to the warp pad and said, her voice tinged with excitement "Gems, I have to leave for an hour at the most. No you cannot come," This was directed at Amethyst, who had opened her mouth to ask. Garnet continued " There's a monster on the Beach that needs to be taken care of."  
She stepped onto the warp pad and was gone within a second. Pearl and Amethyst stared at the spot where Garnet had vanished. "What was that all about?" Amethyst asked  
"I don't know... Maybe it means-" Pearl was cut off by a loud pounding noise that made the ground shake.  
Pearl and Amethyst rushed outside. Some odd monster was struggling onto the beach. It had the two front legs of a lion and odd scaly back legs that also had a sleek light blue texture. It had the body of a shark except it was lined with odd orange stripes of a lions mane. Where the sharks head would be was a thick neck hidden by a large, unruly lions mane. Its head was that if a lion except it had the skin of a shark. It had one beady red eye and one cold black one. It had a lions nose, which along with nostrils that curved around the nose. Its mouth was wide and curves upward, in a permanent smile. Its teeth were visible, due to that horrid smile. They were yellow, with razor sharp edges. "What IS that thing?" Amethyst asked.  
Pearl was thrown off by its appearance and could only respond with "I-i don't know…"  
The monster screeched and rushed forward to attack the Gems. Pearl met the monster with a quick, but effective stab to the eye. The monster roared and moved back. It stopped and stared at Pearl with its beady red eye. The monster kept staring as if that would do something, but Pearl did feel slightly discouraged to fight this beast. Amethyst now lunged towards the monster and whipped it. A large slash mark formed onto the monsters body. It growled and only backed up once more, still gazing at Pearl. Only now, Pearl realized she'd dropped her weapon. She now didn't feel like fighting at all. What was the point? Steven wasn't here anymore. There wasn't anything left worth saving anymore. Amethyst was screaming at Pearl to do something when she caught the beast's eye. She really didn't see the point in fighting anymore. She barely tried to stop the monster as it lunged at Pearl's gem. Suddenly she saw a teenage human running towards Pearl. He had long straight black hair with a pink streak through it, it reminded Amethyst of Greg's hair when he and Rose met. The teenage seemed familiar, the way he carried himself, the way he ran, the concerned look in his eyes. Suddenly it stuck her like lightning. Amethyst screamed as the monster lunged for Pearl and the teen as he blocked Pearl "Is that-?!"  
Pearl yelled from behind the teen "STEVEN?!?!?!"  
He summoned his shield as the monster was only a few inches away from his face. The shield must have been at the least 20 feet long. Upon impact, the monster died and retreated into a gem. This was the last thing Pearl or Amethyst cared about at the moment though. As the shield retreated back into Steven's gem, he fell on all fours, sputtering and coughing. Pearl and Amethyst were frozen. Was this really Steven? After a few seconds Pearl helped him up. Once you got to look at his face, he was without a doubt, Steven Quartz Universe. Pearl was trying not to cry, but tears built up in her eyes anyways. Tears ran down Pearls face, against her trying to stop them. Steven looked at Pearl. He didn't look like he was about to cry at all. He looked downright happy. He said to Pearl "Hey Pearl, don't cry. I'm here now afterall."   
Pearl sobbed even harder and lunged forward to hug Steven. Amethyst felt a weight lifted off her chest. All she could feel was pure joy, for the first time since Steven and the Gems had been playing Citchen Calamity two years ago. Garnet and Peridot. They would be so happy that Steven was back. Suddenly Amethyst felt happy tears rush up to her eyes. She ran up to Steven and hugged him. It was weird to only come up to his chest. She'd have to fix that later. 

1 hour later  
"Whats taking Garnet so long??" Pearl said worriedly, looking up at the clock by the kitchen  
"Chill P, Garnet doesn't have to be back at exactly the time she says she will." Amethyst said from her spot next to Steven on the couch.  
Pearl said in the same worried tone "Well she usually is."  
Amethyst rolled her eyes "No she's usually in her room."  
Pearl sighed and walked over to the couch and sat on the other side of Steven. She looked at Steven and smiled "Its so good to have you back, Steven."  
Steven smiled happily "I'm glad to be back on Earth with you guys."  
He looked around. Nothing had changed since he was taken away. "How come the house looks the same? I thought it'd be kind of run down now."  
"Oh Steven, Amethyst and I never let your room get like that. Though I do admit the floorboards have gotten weaker since you left." Pearl said  
"How come?" Steven inquired  
"Well since everyone's been mostly in the temple since then. Especially Garnet." Pearl answered  
Pearl tensed up. Stevens eyes widened and he started to get up "Garnet doesn't want me here does she?" Steven asked  
Pearl stood up and said panicked "No no, Steven! Garnet loves you its just-"  
Steven stood up and said thickly "Ju-just didn't want me around?"  
Pearl paled. Amethyst stood up and bumped into Stevens leg and said as seriously as she could while still keeping cool "No bud, it was just-"  
"All of my fault." Steven finished  
He sniffed loudly and pushed his hair out if his face. He stared at the ceiling while tears slid down his cheeks. He looked exactly like Greg did when Greg and Rose failed to fuse. "I-i knew it was a mistake to come back… Garnets still mad and…." he drifted off  
"Steven! Garnet-" Pearl started, but Steven had pushed past her and ran outside. He jumped as he reached the porch and made it to the lighthouse. Amethyst and Pearl followed him. Amethyst said slightly worried "When did he learn to do that?"  
"I-i… don't know Amethyst." Pearl replied  
Even though Amethyst knew Pearl didn't have all of the answers, this one scared her the most. As they were halfway to the lighthouse, the sound of the warp pad illuminating into life sounded from the house "Amethyst," Pearl said "you'll have to tell garnet the truth."  
Amethyst bit her lower lip than nodded, turning mid jump back towards the house. Pearl landed gracefully in front of the lighthouse door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door softly and called out softly "Steven? Are you in there?"  
Suddenly the door locked and the sound of something hitting the door softly and sliding down. "Steven are you okay?" she said  
Silent sobbing that could be barely heard.  
Pearl felt herself close to tears. She had just gotten Steven back and he was already upset to the point of leaving. She would do everything within her willpower to get Steven to stay.  
"Steven I promise-" Pearl began "Stand aside Pearl," Garnet said " I'll talk to him." She whispered so only Amethyst and Pearl could hear.  
She stepped up to the door, and put her hand on it "Steven-"  
She stopped as she heard a loud thump and slight yelp on the other side of the door. All feelings of positivity had vanished, the confidence and excitement of Steven being back had been replaced with guilt and regret. Why hadn't she just unfused two years ago, she knew she getting unstable and would snap at anyone. But she never thought at Steven. She looked as far as she could into the future and could not see him recovering for what happened in Homeworld. She could see symptoms of isolation and experimentation. Garnet could feel her entire existence shaking. She couldn't keep tears from flowing down her face and distorted sobs coming from three different voices. Garnet yelped in pain as she was engulfed in a column of white light. Steven stood up and wiped away his tears. Had he really made Garnet cry? He unlocked the door and slowly opened it. Sapphire sat on her knees, facing away from the door sobbing into her hands, mumbling something incoherent. Ruby was hugging her, trying to hold back tears of her own, her eyes closed. Steven felt tears roll down his face. How could he ever think they didn't love him? He ran his hand through his hair as he started to choke on the lump in his throat and sob. Ruby was the first to look up as Steven sat on the ground and hug his knees. He buried his face in his knees and sobbed. Ruby jumped up and squeezed Sapphire's shoulder. Sapphire turned around barely containing her sobs. She was astonished to see how much Steven had changed. Ruby and Sapphire rushed over to hug Steven, Sapphire naturally getting there first. Sapphire nearly tackled Steven to the ground in a hug. She squeezed him "Steven." she said  
A coolness spread throughtout Stevens body at her words. Suddenly he felt a body hit his side with the force of a bowling ball. He tumbled over as he was embraced in a warm hug. Ruby got up and fell into the grass and said nervously "Um i'm sorry."  
Sapphire released Steven and said quickly "I'm sorry too."  
Steven sat up and crosses his legs indian style "For what?" He said curiously  
The gems sat their in silence before Amethyst broke out in laughter. "Wha-whats so funny?"  
Steven asked  
"Here we were thinking you had grown up, but you're still the same goofball you've always been!" Amethyst replied, still laughing  
At this point, Pearl was laughing hardly. She was just happy Amethyst was happy after the past few years. Ruby broke out in laughter, lying on her back. Sapphire put a finger on her lips and smiled. Steven blushed heavily and said embaressed "Hey, i've grown up a lot!"  
Amethyst laughed even harder and yelled out of breathe "SNAKE!"  
Steven yelled out in fear and stood up only to fall over, face first into the ground. Amethyst was laughing even harder now, along with Ruby and Pearl. Steven blushed "Tha-that wasn't funny!"  
Amethyst's laughing had died down and she said, recovering from her laughing fit "Aw, you gotta admit it was a bit funny!"  
Steven reddened "Oh-Okay fine..."  
"Come on! You even got Pearl to laugh!" Amethyst said  
Pearl. "Wait!" Steven stood up quickly "I need to go back to Homeworld!"  
All laughter died off. Pearl said, astonished "What?!? Why would you need to go back to Homeworld?!"  
Steven replied shakily "Trust me, I don't want to go back. But I have a friend there thats going to be shattered! I need to go get her!"  
"But Steven…" Pearl replied  
"I'm sorry Pearl, but I really need to go get her." Steven replied  
Ruby stood up "You're not going alone!"  
Steven turned his head to look at Ruby "Okay but I can only bring one person, and your the only one that would make the most sense being with me."  
Ruby got up "Okay. I'm guessing its still not safe to go as a fusion?"  
"No." Steven replied  
He looked down sadly, remembering someone. When he realized everyone was looking at him he perked up "Would it be ok? If we left now? We might be a bit late.."  
He checked the watch given to him when he first arrived on Homeworld. It was only five minutes till Topaz would be there to pick her up. "OHHHH WE ARE SO LATE!!! Ruby we have to leave now!!!!" Steven yelled  
He grabbed Ruby's hand and prepared to run down to the Temple, when he remembered he might not be able to come back. He quickly hugged Amethyst, Pearl and Sapphire and said a quick goodbye to each before he left. Hopefully he'd come back and be able to see Peridot again. They jumped down to the Temple and Steven pulled Ruby through the door and jumped onto the warp pad. Hopefully he'd have enough energy to make it to his living quarters. He took a deep breath as the warp pad activated and he and Ruby were in the Stream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the people that left Kudos on my work! Its nice to know someone read it and liked it x3 Next chapter coming soon!


	3. The Fall of Perlite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is extremely short but my inspiration level is running low.

Steven and Ruby were now in the lobby like area of his living quarters. Gems passing stared at Steven and looked torn between bowing and carrying on their bussiness. Ruby hardly noticed this, as she just wanted to get this friend Steven had been talking about, then there was the fact they teleported directly to Homeworld. Large shining walls glistened in the light put off by a large elegant light, that had a soft white plastic like material looping and in the ovals they made were lights. The floor was a white unstained marble, the room had no decoration except for a spiraling staircase that was in the middle of the square room. At certain points pathways left the staircase and led to hallways that had no railing keeping a gem from failing and cracking their gems. As they stepped off the Ruby tugged at Steven's shirt, causing several gems to stop in awe and others to flinch. Steven stopped and said "Um yeah Ruby?" he eyed the crowd that had stopped and stared at them. She whispered so only Steven heard her "Okay one how did you warp us DIRECTLY TO HOMEWORLD from Earth??? Secondly why is everyone treating you like some royal gem?"  
The crowd closed in around Ruby and Steven "Uhhh can we talk about this later?" Steven said nervously   
Ruby grunted and started "Fine but-" when a familiar voice interrupted her "STEVEN," Steven and Ruby turned around. A Pearl not unlike their Pearl from the Crystal Gems walked to him from the crowd. She was pale pink with soft pink colored hair that barely skimmed her shoulders and fell across her eyes in poofy bangs. She and their Pearl had the same physique, but almost entirely different clothing. Her tights were instead a grey, along with her blouse. Her shirt had a wide pink sash that covered her entire torso. Her shoes were the same color as her sash, the same soft pink as her hair. Several gems had to be shoved to move. She finally made it through, she had trouble hiding a glare. Several gems around her scoffed and others laughed. The pink Pearl looked down and turned a darker shade of pink. She walked towards Steven that way, not noticing Ruby. She whispered fiercely into Steven's ear "Topaz has been here nearly five minutes, you could be in massive punishment for this. Not giving up a Pearl is punishable you know!"  
Steven's expression darkened and he looked her straight in the, well, bangs and whispered "You're not JUST a Pearl. You're Perlite"  
Perlite blushed lightly and whispered back "Can we just go to the Chisel and get this over with?"  
Ruby's eyes darted to meet Steven's. She remembered the Chisel; it was where Cracked or defective gems go to be shattered. She had the unfortunate duty of escorting peole there. Ruby shuttered at the thought of the place. Steven's eyes darted down the way they did when he way lied. "Oh-okay. I just have to go drop off this guard."  
Perlite didn't move here head. She seemed to be staring at Steven. Ugh, now Ruby got what the others used to say about Garnet's visor. Perlite finally seemed to notice Ruby. She smiled softly, then seemed to remember she wasn't supposed to act of her own free will. Her head shot up to face Steven and she replied at emotionless as she possibly could "Ok, sir."  
Someone in the crowd behind her snorted and said roughly "Stupid defected Pearl."  
This is earned a small laughter from the crowd. Ruby's fists clenched. She remembered why she hated Homeworld. Perlite swayed slightly. "Ok lets go." Steven said nervously  
He headed off to the warp pad, Ruby right behind him, followed by Perlite. As Steven and Ruby stepped onto the warp. Perlite stopped at the foot of the pad, bowing. Steven stared at her for a second before remembering Pearls couldn't be let on the warp alone. "Ah oh um you can get on-"  
"Wait a second Quartz!" a cold high voice said  
Perlite froze as her foot rose onto the warp. She looked up at Steven, forcing a smile. She mouthed 'You tried you're best.' Steven stood up straight and addressed the cold voice "Yes, To-"  
Before Ruby could even match a face to the voice a gem distabilizer like object was thrown at Perlites back. A sound Ruby never thought, nor wanted to hear for the rest of her lifetime echoed throughtout the lobby. The sound of a gem shattering. Perlite poofed nearly at once. Steven stared blankly at the remaining gem shards on the floor. A cold cackle filled the air and a poisoningly soft voice filled the air "Now we don't want any defects running around, do we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment any flaws x3

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be up soon! Sorry its short. But i'm starting the next chapter soon! :3


End file.
